2019 American Association of Health Sciences Libraries Data Scholarship Report

Posted by Miles Dietz-Castel on December 9th, 2019 Posted in: Blog

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2019 American Association of Health Sciences Libraries Data Scholarship Report:
2019 Southeast Data Librarian Symposium, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

In October 2019 Lauren Robinson, Medicine Liaison Librarian at the University of Kentucky, was awarded the AAHSL/NNLM Data Scholarship. With this award, Lauren attended the 2019 Southeast Data Librarian Symposium hosted by Tulane University.

About the Conference

The Southeast Data Librarian Symposium (SEDLS) “is intended to provide a low-cost opportunity for librarians and other research data specialists to gather and explore developments in the field of data librarianship, including the management and sharing of research data” (SEDLS website). In addition, attendees have the opportunity to network and build partnerships with colleagues from all over the southeast.

At the 2019 Symposium, Lauren participated in hands-on activities on Python and the Open Science Framework (OSF), as well as, attended presentations and panels on data visualization, mapping, data services, and data management. The daily schedule was a nice mixture of presentations, panels, discussions, and active learning sessions.  Furthermore, Lauren hoped that attending the 2019 SEDLS would provide her the opportunity to meet and discuss with other professionals in the region were approaching and implementing data services at their institutions. SEDLS allowed her the opportunity to interact with institutions from across the southeast region. These interactions allowed her to think critical about the services she provides at her home institution and how she can implement improvements to those services.

Themes

• Many institutions are still in the beginning stages of formulating and establishing data services. Some institutions have a dedicated data service librarian or team of librarians, but just as many libraries are currently seeking to develop or fill data positions.
• Data visualization and data references services are often discussed together, but often require a variety of skill sets.
• Developing cross-campus partnerships are instrumental. These partnerships may be with the Research Compliance Office, Graduate School, or other research support offices.

Future Goals

Over the next year, Lauren use much of what she learned about the Open Science Framework and from her colleagues across the southeast to inform her the research data trainings she will be providing at the University of Kentucky.  In addition, as a member of the University of Kentucky Libraries’ Research Data Services Committee she hopes to start a discussion on Amnesia, a data anonymization tool, and how the Open Science Framework could be incorporated in to data services and trainings at the University of Kentucky.

Overall, attending SEDLS provided an excellent opportunity to learn from colleagues in her region to better understand the landscape of data services across the southeast.

Lauren Robinson, Medicine Liaison Librarian
University of Kentucky, Medical Center Library
Lexington, KY